Stuart Pearce may have been spared the hospital pass of whether to pick Rio Ferdinand and John Terry for England's friendly with Holland after the latter underwent surgery on an injured knee. But whoever takes charge of England at Euro 2012 has to head off the potential for Terry's July court case, when he will deny racially abusing Ferdinand's brother, Anton, to cause festering relations that would ruin hopes of success in Poland and Ukraine.

This is the message to England from Wednesday's opponents, who know all about cliques and divides at tournaments. The most notorious came at Euro 96, when Guus Hiddink's squad imploded publicly when the finals were played on these shores.

Post-calamity, after Holland bombed out on penalties in the quarter-finals against France, the headlines screamed of a racial divide between Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert, Michael Reiziger and Winston Bogarde, who were all Ajax players, and the white members of the squad. But this was not a problem caused by racism – more a perfect storm of disparate grievances, cultural differences and bad coincidence that may serve as a warning to England before they fly to their Krakow base.

At Euro 96 the Oranje's unrest started due to a dispute over the club salaries of Davids, Kluivert, Seedorf and Reiziger that had been bubbling beforehand. The problem started when Davids informed Hiddink during the tournament that he was "too deep in the ass of Danny Blind [the captain]" and this became a gaping wound when a photograph that apparently captured a racial divide was taken.

Youri Mulder, a Schalke 04 forward who roomed with Kluivert, recalls the dispute. "It was before the tournament. The youth players of Ajax got a little less pay, but that was normal. They were Seedorf [who moved to Sampdoria the previous year], Davids, Kluivert and Reiziger, but I don't think the reason was because they are another colour.

"There had also been the qualification match before the Euros against Ireland in Liverpool [won 2-0]. Afterwards, in a television interview with Davids, Kluivert, Seedorf and maybe Reiziger, they said: 'We are the cabal' – and as they were all black players it sounded a little strange. But they were young guys, it was more like: 'We are strong together.'

"When the tournament started there was another thing that divided the team. There was a strong Ajax group that won the Champions League in 1995 and you had players like Jari Litmanen, the number 10, whereas in the national team was [Dennis] Bergkamp [of Arsenal]. He got a little criticised because he didn't play like Litmanen -- box-to-box.

"Then there was also Davids saying about Hiddink: 'He's too deep in the ass of Blind' [after a group game with Switzerland] because he was not playing. Until now it didn't have anything to do with a racist thing. Then came the famous photograph. There was a lunch in the garden. We had a cook with us and he also made food from Surinam, and of course it's the black players [all of Surinamese descent] who like this.

"In order not to give it to all tables the black players were sitting together. There was one white player, Richard Witschge, who had to sit there too because of a shortage of tables. Then came this photographer and Hiddink stood up to say no photographs. But the picture was made, it came in the paper and it was: 'The Dutch team is racist – they're all sitting on one table, the coach doesn't want the picture – he has his hands up [to prevent it].' "

Mulder confirms that there was no sense from Kluivert that the black players felt an undercurrent of racism: "I don't think so. I was in the same room as Patrick and I never had that feeling."

Blind, who was also Ajax captain and is reluctant to recall the events, says of the Ferdinand-Terry conundrum: "It's very difficult to answer. I don't know exactly the situation with John Terry – it depends on what problems there are, how deep it is in the team." Football's capricious nature means that some divides can actually cause a siege mentality. Blind adds: " If it is a problem from another side, [say] the FA, you can use it to bring the team together."

Arthur Numan, then a PSV Eindhoven defender, warns how issues can mutate at a tournament: "You stay there 24 hours, seven days a week; you're on top of each other. You try to focus on games and training sessions. But once something happens you hope that results are well and that everyone, especially the press, are talking about this.

"It was even worse after the tournament – the press and people in Holland blamed the players for the problems off the park. But what was strange was two months later we started a new campaign. Hiddink took the whole squad together and said: 'OK, what happened at Euro 96, everything, we will forget it, and focus on qualification for the World Cup.' Two years later, with nearly the same squad, we had a fantastic tournament in France [reaching the semi-final]."

At Euro 96, in the group phase, Holland were famously defeated 4-1 by Terry Venables' England, and Numan adds: "When the atmosphere is not good in the camp you see it on the park. It's no surprise, when you're not a unit anymore."

Johnny Heitinga, a member of the current squad, says the team are no longer afflicted by such divisions. "Before the [2010] World Cup the manager [Bert van Marwijk] said: 'It doesn't matter if you don't like this or that person, you have to accept his quality and work for each other.' There is only one goal and you need all the players working together to win a trophy." England, be warned.